The Journey of Draco Malfoy
by OrbThesela
Summary: The sequel to Twists in the road, set 6 months later, a new challenge has cropped up in Draco and Pansy’s life, will they be able to stick together or be torn apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

**Summary: **The sequel to Twists in the road, set 6 months later, a new challenge has cropped up in Draco and Pansy's life, will they be able to stick together or be torn apart?

**Warnings: **Rated M because I don't trust myself, expect bad language at the minimum, violence, substance abuse, sexual scenes may turn up, but I'm not promising anything.

For Sugar (Twiist) again, because she's fabulous and wanted a sequel before the first part was finished.

(And to all those who enjoyed Twists, thanks for sticking with me.)

**Chapter 1**

"_There's a new moon rising on the other side  
The other side of you  
Talk to yourself and someone else  
What you tryin' to do  
You maybe will, you maybe won't  
It's all for you to say  
You say you do, and then you don't  
It's only you in the way_"

Journey - You're on your own

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Draco felt like his ribs were being crushed, the iron like grip around his torso seemed to be growing tighter, the precious air in his lungs had been spent and he could not draw any new oxygen despite how hard he tried. It was no good. He hit his mother's back with an open palm and thankfully, she guessed it was his prompt to release her hug from his body and loosen her arms. Narcissa Malfoy looked at her son's face with a teary expression, salty droplets were streaming down her cheeks smearing her makeup slightly, her mouth twitching as she held a smile that was clearly refraining from bursting into sobs again.

Draco rolled his eyes with a bemused smirk and patted his mother's shoulder gently. "Honestly Mother, please your embarrassing me."

Cissy clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her fingers interlocked tightly before they flung open and her arms wrapped around her son again. "Oh Draco! I don't care, you don't know happy you've made me." Draco's arms became pinned once more to his sides and his eyes bulged slightly as he coughed a little and tried to gulp as much air as he could. If not for the intervention of his father, placing a calm hand on his wife's shoulder, signalling it was time for her to release him, Draco was fairly surely he would passed out.

Sitting Cissy down and placing a rather full glass of Black Vodka into her hand Lucius gave Draco a rare smile and shook his hand. "Without your Mother's _enthusiasm_, Draco, I must concur. It is about time you made us Grandparents."

While the odd display of Malfoy affection had been going on, Pansy had sat quietly in awe, trying to move herself from Cissy's direct eye line, as well as she got on with her mother in law, she did not feel like a crushing hug would be particularly good for her in her condition. She had only been told by the doctor, which Tracey had recommended to her, the prior day that her suspicions were correct, she _was _pregnant, eight weeks gone and so far she had, had to cope with three weeks of fairly egregious morning sickness. The morning sickness she could cope with, an over excited hug from Narcissa Malfoy, she wasn't so sure.

Lucius inclined his head slightly at Pansy and gave her the briefest of smiles, "I am glad my dear, that you and Draco have finally decided to produce another heir to the Malfoy line." Pansy smiled slightly in return and then exchanged a look with Draco as his father turned his back on them both to pour out two glasses of fire whiskey, one he kept for himself, the other handing to his son, Pansy would have to make do with the glass of pumpkin juice in her hand.

However, there had been no deciding on the parts of Draco and Pansy when it come to the subject of producing an heir. Something which never be told to there their child was the fact they were only conceived due to a night of binge drinking fire whiskey, reminiscing and a forgotten anti-fertility potion.

Even though Blaise had been gone for longer than Draco cared to think about, he could sense his absence in this scene stronger than the slight ache in his ribs he had still from his mother's over-aggressive hug. Even when sat in the doctors office the day before and he had smiled at the couple and congratulated them on the fact that Pansy was officially expecting a child, it had not completely sunk in that he was unable to aparate straight to Blaise's house and tell him the news first. Though even with his friend gone, he could guess with a degree of certainty what the reaction would have been. Something akin to his mother's only there would have been more fire whiskey at the end of it and Pansy would not have been able to successfully dodge a bear hug from him like she had his mother.

Even now with Narcissa sat babbling to Lucius, who looked like he had heard this excited spiel of random sentences about babies and little socks and cot's and prams before, Draco could not help but feel the gaping hole where his best friend's presence should have been. As if she was reading his mind, Pansy tentatively placed her on top of his and squeezed it slightly. There had been many changes in his life since the fateful day that Theodore Nott had re-entered it, the slight willingness to show a bit more affection had so far been Pansy's favourite, although in many ways, he was still clearly his father's son.

In the end, after a very long debate between the two, it had been decided that Draco's parents would be the ones who where informed of the _happy _news first. Although Pansy had agreed to it, she had really wanted to tell her mother before Draco's, she had tried to persuade him to bring both their parents together but for some reason which remained unclear to her, Cissy had never got on with her own mother. Despite the fact that Cissy had always had something of an affection for her, calling her once; the daughter she never had. All she knew was that it was something to do with the first time they had met and something to do with a misunderstanding about the correct way to address her.

She had been told once by Draco that his mother referred to hers as '_That Parkinson woman_'but she really had no desire to probe Cissy any further into why exactly she did so, she'd rather remain on good terms with her mother in law.

Drifting off in her little world of contemplation, Panay found herself nodding in agreement to something before being snapped out of her day dream by a loud clap of exhilaration from Cissy as she stood up and headed to the bureau lifting a quill and piece of parchment starting to scribble down names as fast as they came into her head. She wondered for a moment with a slight air of fear of what she had agreed to, dreading it might actually be the birth for a moment. Before Cissy started chatting to herself as Lucius smirked at his son with a look that said he was slightly amused with what was going on. "Oh! And we'll put an announcement in the Prophet, but we'll be sure to say the party is by invitation only…"

Pansy only had a few seconds to contemplate if the party she had apparently agreed to would see her own mother invited or if the announcement in the Daily Prophet would be out before she had chance to tell her when the deafening sound of the Malfoy's oak front door being blasted open caused the entire room, barring Lucius, to jump.

While the Malfoy family had watched the door fly past the parlour's open ones, on instinct they had all drawn their wands and Draco had jumped out of his seat and was now stood in front of his wife, guarding her as a booming voice echoed through the hallway.

"DRACO MALFOY! Come out and surrender your wand or you will be taken by force!"

In her life, Pansy had never seen Lcuius Malfoy look so angry, she briefly pondered if it was because of the intrusion, the fact that his door had been blasted from it's hinges or someone was apparently calling his son out. She watched as his face twisted into one of anger and he pointed his wand into the space he could see which was the hallway. "WHO do you think you are? What do you want?"

The unknown voice sounded out, closer from what Pansy could hear than before. "We are coming in, lower your wands and there will be no reason for anyone to be hurt." Lucius looked like he was ready for a full on duel with whoever was threatening his family, but a slightly fearful look from Cissy caused him to lower his wand and a nod at Draco made him do the same. "We have lowered our wands…."

At the moment it had passed his lips a slew of Aurors came pouring into the parlour, all with wands pointed at different members of the Malfoy family. Looking like he was about to explode with rage, Lucius was barely restrained as he barked at the one closest to him. "I demand you tell me what this intrusion is all about!"

Shooting a smirking look at Lucius, one which Pansy was sure could earn him a death sentence if there had not been at least a dozen Aurors in the room, the leader of the group looked to Lucius "We are here to make an arrest, we have the correct documents from the ministry should you wish to check it over." Pansy felt a wand being shoved into her hands from Draco while the Auror, smirking, handed a tightly wrapped scroll to Lucius Malfoy, she shoved the wand in her back pocket quickly while he was distracted, she guessed if Draco was being taken in on some trumped up charge, maybe something to do with the match fixing allegations that had been surrounding the quidditch league for the past three months or so, he didn't want them to get their hands on his wand while they were at it.

The leader barely noticed that Draco didn't have a wand in his hands and pulled them together while he whispered a spell which caused a coil of thick green light to bind itself around Draco's hands, keeping them held tightly together, unable to move.

"Draco Malfoy, I am arresting you on behalf of the ministry for magic, to be tried before the wizengamot on the charge of murder." Pansy gasped and Draco looked bewildered, they had disposed of Nott in a suitable way. Surely the ministry wasn't coming after Draco for something that she herself had done.

The lead Auror looked to Lucius Malfoy with another smirk as he pulled on Draco's arm, starting to lead him out of the room as Pansy felt Narcissa's arm close around her shoulders. "The _new _minister isn't going to be taking bribes on this _Mr _Malfoy, the murder of Blaise Zabini isn't going to be swept under the carpet and go away, we've got evidence now to get a solid conviction….."

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Author's notes:

If you have come across my story and wonder what exactly is going on, then please read Twists in the road, if you have started this story because you enjoyed Twists and want to hit me for ending the first chapter in this manner, then leave me a review instead. teeheehee

It was actually much easier than I thought to slip back into this world, it only took about an hour to knock this chapter up. And yes for those fans of the twists story, I am starting on the prequal as well, although I can't promise it today, I know some of you really want to know the full story of the formula, etc.

So please R&R guys, first person to do so gets a shiny new donkey…..


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

****

**Chapter 2**

"He's just a young boy out of school  
Livin' his world like he wants to  
They're makin' laws, but they don't understand  
Turns a boy in to a fightin' man  
They won't take me  
They won't break me  
No one could tell him what to do  
Had to learn everything the hard way  
He's on the street, breakin' all the rules  
I'm tellin' you that he's nobody's fool  
They won't take me  
They won't break me  
Now he's leavin', gettin' out from this masquerade  
Oh gotta go…"

Journey - Escape

------------------------------------

Draco had remained silent on the journey to the ministry, there was no way. No way could anyone who knew him actually believe that he had murdered Blaise. Everyone knew what close friends they were, anyone could tell them, he would get Tracey to tell them… Tell them what? Her husband had been murdered and she's just forgotten to mention it to the proper authorities? Allowed her friends to take care of it? No he couldn't do that. That would implicate her.

He started to wonder about who exactly would tell the ministry that he was capable of killing his best friend. Why they would do it. He knew it could not be Blaise's mother, his own mother had been faced with the grim task of telling her what had happened to her only son and that the situation had been handled in her absence. Besides which Lucretia was well aware of how long Blaise and he had been friends, she would know that even though they had the occasional argument and the less occasion punch up, neither one would seriously hurt the other.

In his mind, he started to rack through just who knew that Blaise had been murdered and that Nott was responsible. No one outside his immediate circle of friends of family and non of them would accuse of him of such an act, especially not to the ministry. His father had done such an excellent job of keeping the whole thing quiet.

It seemed unreal to Draco that this was happening as an auror pushed him into a holding cell, telling him he would wait there for a preliminary hearing before being sent to Azkaban. The word itself inspiring a shudder within him, he couldn't go to Azkaban, he just couldn't. What could he do? Tell them that he did not murder his best friend but an old school enemy did for the sake of recovering something which they had stolen from Gringotts and which had been destroyed long since? He could not tell them his own pregnant wife had murdered the perpetrator in turn and they had burned the pages of the formula the same night he had returned from St Mungos.

He wondered in his head how he could formulate a decent enough lie about the situation. Even if he told them the truth but told them that he was the one who killed Nott and not Pansy and he had taken Nott's body to the garden of his family home and dumped it there instead of the Zabini families house elf, would they then charge him with Nott's murder? If only everything had not come at once. If this had happened when he was not thinking of Pansy, left wondering was to become of his at the Malfoy Manor. For a brief moment, he wondered if she would be comforting his mother or if his mother would be comforting her. He wondered how angry his father was, if he was at this moment, storming into the ministry, demanding they release him or if he had sent an urgent owl to his lawyers and had them looking over heavy looking scroll the cocky auror had given him.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings. The cell they had put him in was small, no window, no bed, just a worn out wooden chair that looked like it would collapse even under his thin frame. He could tell this was not meant for keeping prisoners in over a long period of time, just to hold them, as he was told.

Draco thought for a moment about the Wizengamot, if they were gathering at that moment or if they were already there, trying other cases. If the raid of his families home had been pre-mediated or just decided on that morning. His thoughts turned to his own house, he wondered if they had gone there first and seen that he was not present and then instantly gone to his parents. Or if they had been watching him for days, waiting for the right moment, tracking his movements, to make sure he would not get wind of the plan and try to flee to the continent, outside of the ministries jurisdiction.

Draco looked at the cell door, even he had his wand, he doubted he would be able to break it open and if he did, he would be running forever. He would surely look guilty then. A small sliding eyehole suddenly snapped open, a pair of large brown eyes looked in on him, he guess they belonged to a man from the sound of the voice that boomed into the cell. "Five minutes Malfoy. Your father sent a lawyer, to talk to you. Stand back from the door." Draco obeyed, moving backwards cautiously as the door opened and a harassed looking young man stepped over the threshold, holding in one hand a battered looking briefcase that seemed like it was about to explode with papers.

The young man held out his hand to shake Draco's and noticing they were still bound quickly withdrew it and adjusted his glasses instead. "Mr Malfoy, I've been sent from your father's lawyers office, I'm Brian Baxter. I haven't had chance to look over everything yet, but from what I've been told, this is ridiculous. Don't worry though, this is a preliminary hearing, they can't send you to Azkaban unless they had realy strong evidence against you like a witness or murder weapon. You'll probably be placed under house arrest with an auror guarding you and they'll disconnect your floo network and place anti-apparition charms on your house, but that will be about it.… "

Draco's eyes widened slightly at the slurry of new information he was being given. The young man was clearly nervous, but fi he was right, there would be no way they would be able to send him to Azkaban, he'd be able to mount a good defence from home. Maybe tell the lawyers to give him someone who didn't look like they were about to defecate in their keks and tell _them _what really happened to Blaise. He breathed a slight sigh of relief as Baxter adjusted his glasses once more.

"We'll have you out of here in no time Mr Mal…" The door opened again and a menacing looking person glowered in the frame.

"It's time, come on Malfoy."

Giving Draco a reassuring smile, which actually made him a little more nervous, Baxter nodded to the guard and stepped outside while Draco was tugged by the arm and manhandled out of the holding cell. There was no doubt in his mind now that this had been set up before hand. Whoever had organised it had been done so, so that there would be little time for lawyers to look over everything, let along talk to him properly.

He scowled a little as he was dragged down the corridor and practically pushed into the Wizengamot room. He felt suddenly very daunted, despite the promises of his so-called lawyer, there were a lot of angry looking faces in the crowd, he didn't have time to scan them to see if he recognised any before he was placed in the centre of the room and a person he guessed to be the secretary stood up and read from a scroll in their hands.

"Draco Malfoy, you are at this preliminary hearing on the accusation of murdering one Blaise Zabini. We are hear to determine whether you are suitable or not for release into house arrest, do you have anything to say at this time?"

Draco took a half breath. "I didn't do it, this is stupid, I didn't kill…"

"Thank you Mr Malfoy, that will be enough." The stern looking wizard coughed to clear his throat before continuing. "For the recommendation that the accused should remain in ministry custody, Theodore Nott is called."

Draco looked up at Nott's smirking face as he began speaking…..

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Author's Notes:

Ok, so I'm evil…. Muh ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!

Oh, I have been looking forward to this since I finished Twists in the Road. I wish I could see the look on your faces hehehehehe….

All those who hate me raise their hands…..

UPDATE: I wasn't able to proof read this properly before I uploaded it and I've spotted one spelling mistake already, if anyone spots something or a word that seems like it doesn't fit, send me a message because it's likely down to the auto-correct on microsoft works.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

**Chapter 3**

"_I'm seein' the sky once more_

_Outside my door I'll breathe_

_I can breathe_

_I'm ready to try again_

_I'll breathe …"_

_Journey - I Can Breathe_

------------------------------------

_**Eighteen Months Ago...**_

Theodore Nott felt the green blast of light hit him square in the back and it knocked him for six, falling down on top of the form of Draco Malfoy, the knife he had been holding in his hand sliding into his enemy like he was made of butter. A moment later, he felt himself being lifted and thrown off to the side as a panicked Pansy called directly into Malfoy's face.

He knew Parkinson didn't have it in her to kill anybody, he shut his eyes, true though the spell had not killed him, he felt immeasurably tired, he reasoned with himself that Parkinson would be too preoccupied with her Slytherin prince to bother checking to see if she had actually done her job properly and found himself slumping into a deep sleep.

The next thing he was vaguely aware of was a loud crack, peeping out of the corner of his eye, he saw that a house elf had appeared in the room. It looked familiar, but all of those creatures looked the same to him, he watched it carefully, waiting to see what it would do and was slightly surpirsied to see it place it's small hand on his leg shortly followed by another loud crack.

He allowed his body to fall limp, his head hit the hard ground as they appeared wherever they were, he didn't risk opening his eyes again until he heard another crack and had waited a few minutes, to make sure no one was around. When he finally allowed his eyes to fully open, taking in his surroundings, a jovial gleam enetered his eye, he was in the garden of his family home. Slowly, he rose to his feet, taking a deep sniff of the air, the smell of violets seemed now almost overpowering, he looked up at the moon, hung low in the sky, no halo surrounded it anymore.

After taking a few moments to himself, he went inside the house, he had a lot of planning to do. The formula, he was sure now, was lost to him forever. He had no way of knowing where Parkinson or Malfoy would have stashed their parts and no doubt now, they would destroy it anyway. Seven years wasted, nevermind, there could be other things. One thing seemed to occupy his mind now more than the formula, more than the money he could have produced from it or the elixir he could have siphoned off; revenge.

As quickly as he had considered revenge, a thought, nay, a plan entered his head, he knew that it would be pointless going in for the kill straight away, the elder Malfoy, who, regrettably, was more than capable of producing a _working_ killing curse, would be on guard at this time. He needed to bide his time, wait for the most oppurtune moment to reveal himself.

Grumbling to himself at the efficency that Lucius Malfoy was probably dealing with the situation right at that moment bothered him. He'd be making sure his little brat would be getting the best doctors in St.Mungos, he'd be handing out back handers all over the place to hush up the fact that Zabini had been done in... A broad smirk appeared on his face, if he could plan it right, just perfectly, yes he could do it. He could set Malfoy up to take the fall for Zabini, it wouldn't take much. As far as anyone knew, he was still out in the low countries, working on tracking down a ministry official who had gone slightly mad and disapeared in the night, wearing his wife's best dress, but had been left a small fortune by an aunt who had passed away. He clicked things over in his mind, Malfoy wasn't aware of his job, he could quite easily just return to it, bide his time, work in secret, drop hints and information in front of the right peoples doors, yes he could do this, he just had to remember to breathe...

-----------------

_**Three Weeks Ago...**_

His plan was right on track. He'd been back in the country a fortnight and as far as he knew, he had not been spotted by any of Malfoy's lot, not that he expected them to turn up in Hogsmeade anyway. It seemed strange being back in the old office of Snelson, Bolton and Bobbin. For years, he'd worked for them as a tracker, moving around the continent, tracking down people who had been bequeathed things by distant relatives or old friends and he was suprisingly good at it. He still had the look of a slightly malnourished school boy, therefore found it easy blending in with crowds and getting information from slightly batty old women who always seemed to want to feed him cream teas and shortbread.

He had told his bosses he wanted a break from the continent, although much to there dismay, allowing him to take up a desk job for as long as he needed to execute his plan. He figured it had been long enough, Malfoy and Parkinson would have forgotten all about him, assumed everything was over and so he could finally put everything into action. He had been unable to resist dropping by the Zabini mansion, watching carefully through a window and having to restrain himself from laughing too loudly as he observed Zabini's widow struggling with three toddlers, all seemed to bear the faces of their father and running circles round her. He almost fallen off his broom laughing when he watched Tracey run out of the room crying as one of her sons had thrown a child's gobstone at her, squirting the foul smelling liquid all over her face and hair. He'd also taken the time to stop by Malfoy's place, but had been unable to get anywhere near without risking being seen, reporters from the prophet had surrounded the front door, wanting a quote about the match-fixing allegations that had been surrounding the quidditch league of late.

He sighed to himself with satisfaction, it was most definatley the time to bring everything into action, if he could find a way of implicating everything without Malfoy seeing him until the last minute, it would be all the more sweeter seeing the look on his face.

Nott looked up as he heard a knock on his office door, although it was less of an office and more of a broom cupboard with a desk inside it. He raised his eyebrow slightly and called out to the person stood on the other side. "Yes?"

The door clicked open and a girl walked inside, a steaming mug of tea in one hand and a small plate of digestives in the other. She smiled at him sweetly and placed the items on the desk. "I thought you might like a cup of tea Mr Nott. Mr Bolton told me you started out here doing what I'm doing, filing things, archiving old papers."

Nott found his mouth was hanging open slightly, he had never seen a creature quite so mesmerising in his life, the girl, who looked like she could not be more than eighteen, maybe fresh out of doing her NEWTs, was so beautiful to him, it stirred an emotion unfamiliar with and thought for a few moments that he was quite ill. Not that he was uncapable completely of such feelings, but he had pushed them as far back into his mind as he could so that they seemed like a distant memory, something part of another life.

She had blonde, shoulder length hair, that hung free around her oval shaped face and seemed to frame her blue eyes perfectly. A scent hung in the air around her, like lightly perfumed soap, she looked and smelt clean. She smiled at Nott, with a slightly unsure air about her, "Was there anything else Mr Nott?"

Clearing his throat a little, Nott snapped himself out of his trance. "What's your name?"

"It's Rose, Mr Nott."

He smiled a little, a rareity when it was not accompanied by malice. "Please don't call me Mr Nott, your making me feel like I'm an old man."

She smiled a little, shuffling her feet coyly, "Alright, Theodore."

He grimaced a little. "My friends call me Theo." Nott could not refrain from smirking a little at his own statement, he really didn't have any friends, just co-workers, aquaintences, enemies in most case.

It was Rose's turn to pull a face. "I don't like Theo, I prefer Theodore."

He smiled a last time. "Then I guess thats what you'll have to call me, thats everything I need for now." She smiled and nodded, leaving the room and pulling the door closed behind her. Nott waited until he was sure she was gone before letting out a huge breath he was unaware he had been holding. "What are you doing you idiot? You can't afford to start acting like this. Now of all times..."

---------------------

_**Three nights ago...**_

Nott sat paitently waiting at their table in the Quilted Giraffe, a restaurant that although was in a muggle part of London, had been taken over by Wizards some years previous and was quite good, especially if you did not want to be seen by members of the pureblood hierarchy. Despite trying to put a stop to everything before it even started, Nott now found himself on his fourth date with Rose Zeller, who, as it transpired, was only four years younger than him.

He had told her that he wasn't going to be back in England for very long, that it was a short break from the continent. He had even found himself telling her that it was mainly because he was required to testify at a trial, reasons for which he had told her he still could not fathom. That night he was in a particularly good mood, he had exchanged a few owls with Watkins, a Hit-Wizard, liasing with the Auror department, who had told him his information had been most useful, as soon as they got the apropriate legal papers drafted up, they would be going in for Malfoy. To celebrate such news, he had a gift for Rose.

He stood up from his seat as he saw her enter the restaurant, a waiter pointing out the right table to her. She smiled as she reached the table and he moved, planting a kiss on her cheek and pulling out her chair for her. It was true he was slightly worried about the situation he was placing himself by persuing a romance, but he wanted her. He wanted her so badly it caused a cramp in his stomach when he pictured her face in his mind. He could scarcely breathe.

His employers had noticed the budding romance between the pair, little smiles had twitched onto faces as one or the other had made an excuse to talk to the other one, Nott knew this was a precarious situation to be in, but he could not stop himself, no matter how hard he tried.

Rose smiled at him from across the table, about to ask if they should order their food when she noticed the small box being slid across the table to her. Shyly, she smiled and picked it up, carefully opening it and smiling with approval when she saw the contents, a set of silver earrings, set with jet stones. Nott found himself smiling in turn that she was pleased with the gift. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, my Mother used to have a lot of jet jewellery." She smiled and nodded, taking out the earrings from the box and fixing them in her ears. "You don't have to put them in."

"Theodore, I love them, I'm going to wear them." She smiled, reassuring him that they had been the right choice and when both had been put in place, she reached across the table and placed her hand on his. "How do they look?"

"Perfect."

She smiled. From the moment she had set eyes on the mysterious Theodore Nott, who had always been mentioned in the office, but always seemed to be out on assignments, she had been attracted to him. His hair was a little straggled and seemed to look like it hadn't been washed for a while, even though she could smell the soap on his hair on their last date, when seated next to each other, she had nuzzled his neck a little, just to see his reaction. Which had been to shudder slightly, pleasing her.

The two chatted pleasantly while they ate their meal, at first just general chit chat about various things which had happened at work, then she had asked him about his travels, the countries he had gone to, who had met. She had laughed when he had told her funny stories about an old woman who had left her house to a hermit who lived halfway up a mountain, who when being told this had asked how they were going to move the house to his mountain and fit it inside his cave. She had in turn told him about why she was working in the office in Hogsmeade instead of persuing a more active career and had been pleased when he had listened tentativley, asking her sensible questions and showing her understanding.

By the time the evening ended, the two were happy in each others presence, holding hands as he walked her up the garden path to her front door. A small house on the outskirts of Hogsmeade which she was able to rent with her wages, she had told him, although it was simple, it's what she wanted. An easy life. She sighed happily and smiled at him as they reached her door, looking up into his sharp green eyes.

Nott placed his hand on her cheek, stroking it gentley with his thumb, she reached up on her tip toes, allowing her nose to gentley brush against his neck before kissing his cheek lightly. He smiled down at her, nudging her face to the side he bent a little, closing his eyes and allowed his lips to connect with hers...

-------------------

_**The Present...**_

Nott smirked to himself as he watched the look on Malfoy's face, a mix of shock and hatred, he knew there would be little that he could do to contradict his story. Soon, he would be sent away to Azkaban, to rot there till he died or went crazy. Parkinson would be left alone, broken, the thought of this pleased him very much. The perfect revenge, this would teach them both, he had warned them, not to underestimate him and now they would finally appriciate why.

As soon as Malfoy was put away, he could put it all behind him, chalk it down to experience. He could take the money he'd been saving for all the years he had been on the continent, sell the old Nott manor, it meant nothing to him anyway, buy a little place somewhere and start a new life, with Rose. The thought of her made his smile become even more broad.

He took a deep breathe, smirking at Draco one last time. "I was witness to the brutal murder of Blaise Zabini and I can tell you, I observed Draco Malfoy take his life..."

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**Author's Notes:**

**Yay, a new chapter. Don't worry I haven't abandoned this story for my other one. You have to write while the inspirations there, basic rule of writing. **

**So, I hope you guys liked this chapter, please leave me a review, I'd love to know your thoughts about it. I have to say it was one of the more fun ones to write, it's great being in Nott's head, if not a little scary.**


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